


The Mall

by Catheeso



Series: BNHA AU [9]
Category: CJMind, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Blood and Injury, Gen, Mall Scene, Scars, So basically, i am dying :)), more scars :D, shigarakis an asshole, the mall scene, tw: panic attack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:01:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26854900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catheeso/pseuds/Catheeso
Summary: Malls have never been fun.
Series: BNHA AU [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1883536
Kudos: 1





	1. Shigaraki

Carter’s never been a big fan of malls. They’re always too crowded, too noisy. They make the thorn bush in his chest all tight and squeezy. Not to mention the fact that when he went to malls with his family, he’d always get tired of the thrill very quickly. He’d drag his feet, his heels hurting, as his sister moved from clothes store to clothes store, never buying anything. He just wanted some bad mall food but no, his sister wanted to visit every single shop in the entire city. 

Malls felt like tiny cities. They had people who practically lived there. Depending on which malls you went to, you could find a variety of shops. Clothes, shoes, sometimes even furniture. He’s also seen plenty of electronic shops in malls. Not to mention the restaurants in the food courts. 

When his sister moved away, he went to malls a lot less often. Sometimes he and his mom only went to malls for that one specific restaurant that was really good. And when they did go for shopping, it didn’t last all day. He was more than grateful he didn’t have to go to the mall every other weekend. 

But, then his friends asked him to go to the mall with them and he couldn’t bring himself to say no.

“It’s just so we can find some things for the summer camp!” Bre explained. “C’mon, you’re not _scared_ of malls, are you?”

Eventually, the whole class agreed to go. Even Amelia had nodded and said sure. And he wasn’t about to be the only person not to go, so he tagged along. 

Everybody had ended up being allowed to go to the summer camp. A “rational deception”. They were apparently the ones who needed it the most. The only people who lost were Peter, Liam, Ethan, and Owen.

He had planned to stay close to a friend, honest, but then everyone split up and he was stuck just standing there in the middle of the mall like an idiot. 

He thought about just calling one of his friends or even one of his classmates to see where they are, but decided not to. He doesn’t wanna bother them because he got lost in a mall. He’ll find somebody if he just keeps looking. There’s literally eighteen of them, it shouldn’t be that hard. Hell, he’ll even hang out with Amelia if he can’t find anybody else. 

Eighteen people. In a mall with around two hundred. He’s trying to find a needle in a haystack. 

He sighed and gripped his messenger bag tighter, feeling his throat tighten. Two hundred people is a lot of people, even if he’s not looking for one of his eighteen classmates. 

Carter took a deep breath and looked around. He should head to the food court first. Owen and Carmen had mentioned they were hungry so they were probably there. The food court was his best bet. If not, he’ll look at the gaming stores. Peter and Ava were most likely there. Plan C is just sitting down and waiting for one of his classmates to pass by randomly.

Before he could put any of his plans into motion, a somewhat familiar voice cut through the crowd, but he couldn’t quite place it. “Oh, cool! You’re from U.A.! Can I get an autograph?”

An arm was draped over his shoulders before he could force any words out of his mouth. He let out a tiny gasp as the arm tightened. That kinda hurt?

“You’re the kid that got second, right?! I heard you also won a fight against the hero killer! You’re really something else!”

“You sure know a lot about me,” Carter laughed nervously, squirming in his grip. 

“Man, I can’t believe it, though. To think we’d meet _again_ , here!” Again? “Can’t help but think that something special’s helped you come this far.”

Light blue-gray hair. Red eyes. A raspy voice. He’d heard this man before. Four fingers settled around his throat, yanking him closer to him. Shigaraki. 

“Something like fate or destiny, maybe. Well, I guess for you, we last met in that attack on U.A. Let’s get some tea and chat...Carter Laffitte.”

Carter stiffened. Shigaraki knew his name. Shigaraki wanted to _talk_. There were four fingers wrapped around his neck, Shigaraki’s thumb hovered over the back of his neck. One false movement and his spine would be gone.

“Easy now,” Shigaraki hissed when he leaned away. “You’re gonna act like we’re a couple of old pals. No making a scene, okay? Calm down. Breathe naturally. I just wanna talk, that’s all. So don’t you try anything funny.”

They were not old pals. They were not friends. Shigaraki of all people was telling him to calm down. The fingers pressed down more tightly.

“It’d be all too easy. The second all five of my fingers touch your neck, your throat would start crumbling, from the skin inward. You’d turn to dust in under a minute.”

Carter swallowed. “What’s stopping me from teleporting away? I could- I could glitch away. The pro heroes will catch you.”

“No doubt. But take a look. At them.” Shigaraki pointed at the people at the mall. The civilians. “It’s not crazy to imagine that someone could commit an atrocity at any given moment. So why do they smile and mingle like this? Because the laws and rules are built on their individual morality. They’re convinced that ‘no one would ever do that’.

“In the time it’d take to catch me, I could take twenty, no, I could take thirty of them out.”

“What do you wanna talk about?” Carter asked quietly, his stomach tumbling like a washing machine. 

“Ha ha ha, smart move. We might as well sit down for this. Let’s try to relax.” Shigaraki led him to a wooden bench. Carter reluctantly sat down. There wasn’t a clean way he could get out of this. What did he do? Just listen to Shigaraki?

“I pretty much hate everyone and everything. But right now, what really grinds my gears is the hero killer,” Shigaraki said.

“Wasn’t he working with you?” Carter questioned. 

“I never really agreed to that, even if society seems to think so. And that’s my problem. Everyone’s got their eye on the damned hero killer. Our attack on U.A., the Nomu I unleashed in Hosu, it’s all been overshadowed by _him_. No one’s noticing me. Why? He can grandstand all he wants, but in the end, all he’s doing is destroying what he hates. So what makes us so different? Carter?”

Carter thought for a moment.

“You have a nose?” He offered.

Shigaraki yanked Carter closer, digging his fingernails into Carter’s neck. Carter made a strangled sound, reaching up and grabbed the villain’s hand. He choked in the grip.

“Try again,” Shigaraki snarled, loosening his hand slightly. “And don’t play games.”

“W-well, I-I mean, um,” Carter stuttered out. “You play video games, right? People generally like games with good stories. Characters with good backstories. We like being able to- to relate to the characters we’re playing as. With games, they tell good stories. That’s why a lot of people like them. But- but people don’t usually like villains who don’t have good backstories or motivations. Bad guys who are evil for the sake of being evil.”

“Your point?” Shigaraki snapped.

“Stain was, um- Stain had a clear motivation. That’s why people like him so much. They’re able to sympathize with him. But the League of Villains doesn’t have a clear motivation. All we know is that you broke into the USJ to try and kill All Might. Why you wanted to do so isn’t public knowledge. We literally can’t sympathize with you and your cause because we don’t know your cause.” 

“My cause is to destroy anything I don’t like,” Shigaraki said, right in his ear. Carter shivered. 

“But why? Do you want to destroy All Might because you want to create something else? Law of conservation: matter cannot be created or destroyed. If you kill All Might, some other hero will take his place as the Symbol of Peace. Or do you want to destroy the Symbol of Peace as a title?” 

Was he seriously quoting science to a villain holding him hostage? He didn’t quite know if what he was saying was right or not. He was just kind of bullshitting his way through the conversation. 

“Do you think you’re smart, Carter?” Shigaraki asked. Carter’s eyes flickered over to him.

“A little bit?”

Shigaraki chuckled. He’s quiet after that. Like he’s thinking. Thinking about what? He obviously decided not to kill Carter, otherwise, he would’ve done it by now. Carter’s not exactly a top-tier student. He wouldn’t be that hard to kill. He got his ass kicked by Stain. 

“I don’t know if I like you,” Shigaraki hummed. “I didn’t like you before this conversation, I’ll admit, but I think you’re growing on me.”

That _totally_ wasn’t creepy. Carter scanned the crowd, looking for an out. If he could just get a distraction, get someone’s attention (hopefully secretly), maybe he could escape. Maybe he could get the heroes here. 

Carter’s eyes met someone else’s. Kali stared back at him frown across the mall. Her eyebrows were creased with concern. She could probably see the distressed, scared look on his face. Bre stood next to her, typing away on her phone.

His phone buzzed right as Kali jabbed an elbow in Bre’s side. Bre’s head snapped up. Carter glanced at Shigaraki. 

His blood went cold. Shigaraki was looking at Kali and Bre. He knew they were there. 

“I do like you,” Shigaraki repeated. He leaned in close, so close that Carter could hear him breathing. 

“ _But not that much_.”

All five of Shigaraki’s fingers pressed down on his neck. Pain erupted on his neck and he couldn’t stop the scream that was dragged out of his throat. 

He glitched away, crumbling to the ground. He could hear Shigaraki’s laughter over the muffled ringing in his ears. He could hear more screams. Not pained- they were scared. 

It was agony. His thoughts were cloudy. All he could focus on was the pain in his neck. It was blinding. He could feel the blood that gushed out of the wound. He faintly wondered what it looked like.

Hands grabbed his shoulders, yanking him up and off the ground. He gasped at the sudden movement, a sharp burst of stars flooding his vision. 

“-ter? Carter!” A voice yelled right in his face. He blinked groggily, his racing mind surprisingly slow. “Carter, listen to me! You need to breathe!”

_”Calm down. Breathe naturally.”_

Carter cried out, struggling out of the person’s grip. Let go-! Let go let go let go! He can feel Shigaraki’s grip around his throat and he needs to find a hero or somebody to help him. He just saw Kali, where’s Kali?! 

“Carter!” The voice shouted, shaking him lightly. “Carter, please, you have to calm down. Listen to me breathe, okay? In and out.”

The voice put their hand on his chest and that’s weird, isn’t it? Voices don’t have hands. But this voice does. And this voice is breathing very loudly. He sucked in a breath, trying to follow.

But he couldn’t. There was something blocking his throat. His throat hurt and there was blood and oh god- 

“Over here!” The Voice shouted again. “Somebody help!” 

And that’s also weird. The Voice shouldn’t be worried. Who is the voice shouting to? He’s right here.

“Keep your eyes open,” The Voice whispered to him. 

Were his eyes closed? He groaned. White-hot pain laced around his neck, it slick with blood. Around his neck? Everything was too fuzzy, he couldn’t tell what was going on. Breathing hurt. 

“Don’t let him pass out,” a new voice said. A new hand rested on his forearm. Why were all these people touching him? Did they have quirks like Shigaraki? Was Shigaraki still here?

He choked on air. He wanted to go home. He wanted the pain to stop. He wanted to be able to breathe. He wanted his mom. 

“K-Kali,” he sobbed. “No, no, leave me- I can’t- Shigaraki-“

Black flooded his vision. He fell limp.


	2. Carter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes hospitals are places of comfort. Sometimes they aren’t.

Carter woke up to something scratchy on his neck. His fingers twitched as he tried to lift up his hand. It was surprisingly hard. His whole body felt like lead.

“You with me, honey?” The Voice asked. Except- no, it wasn’t The Voice. It sounded like his mom. But Mom wasn’t at the mall, she was at home. She was at home, working. “That’s it, Carter, open your eyes.”

He slowly opened his eyes and blinked against the harsh lights of the hospital room. Hospital room? Wasn’t he just at the mall? His eyes drifted down until he saw his mom.

“I’m in the hospital way too much,” he croaked. His mom laughed softly and ruffled his hair. He leaned into the touch. 

“How do you feel?”

“My neck’s itchy,” he replied. He finally managed to raise his hand to touch his neck. Unsurprisingly, it was covered in bandages. If only he could remember why. “What happened? Shouldn’t it hurt?”

“You don’t remember?” Mom asked. He racked his brain. There were red eyes. A touch-based quirk? Decay and panic and-

Carter gasped and jerked in the hospital bed. Shigaraki was at the mall. He had his fingers on Carter’s neck. His neck!

“Shh, shh,” Mom soothed, grabbing his hands gently. She pulled them away from his neck. “You’re okay, you’re okay.”

“Did-“ Carter swallowed on a dry throat- “did they catch Shigaraki? He was at the mall. He had me by the neck and we-we talked. Did they catch him?”

Mom looked away. She didn’t say anything. He leaned back and closed his eyes. They didn’t catch him.

“Did he hurt anyone?” He stared at the ceiling. “Anyone else?” 

“No,” his mom said softly. “You were the only one. You’re safe.”

“I don’t feel like it,” he laughed wetly. “He picked me out of the crowd. Me, specifically. What did I do? What did I do, Mom?”

His mother held him close as he sobbed into her shirt. 

~~~

People came and went as the day continued. He learned that The Voice was actually Kali. She had held onto him to try and calm him down while Bre chased after Shigaraki when he disappeared behind a corner. She hadn’t found him. Bre was the new voice.

The police had come in and questioned him. Tsukauchi had come in personally, along with Aizawa. His voice had shaken the entire time but Aizawa was there and he was a lot more calming than Carter had expected him to be. 

They eventually left, satisfied with his statement. He had rolled over in his bed when a nurse offered to turn on the TV. He knew what would be showing on the news, he wasn’t stupid. The nurse took that as a cue to leave. 

Kali and everybody else visited him late in the afternoon while he was playing on his phone. Destiny apologized profusely for leaving him behind, and the rest shuffled their feet and said they should’ve been there. It was fine, though, because nobody could have predicted it. He certainly didn’t. 

Amelia also visited a little later on and just kinda stood there, awkwardly. He had cracked a nervous grin and explained that yes, this was weird but no, he didn’t want her to leave when she asked. They just sat down in silence for a bit, which he was grateful for. Everybody had been talking and moving so it was nice for some quiet and stillness. 

When Aizawa was in the room, he had lingered after Tsukauchi left. He had explained that Carter could decide if he wanted to go to summer camp. It wouldn’t be counted off his grade or anything if he chose not to go. Carter chose to go. It wasn’t like Shigaraki was going to be there.

The doctor walked in with his mom, who took a seat next to his bed, rubbing his knuckles comfortingly. He looked between the two of them, biting his lip.

“There will be scars,” the doctor warned, “but you’re allowed to take the bandages off. You’re very lucky, the damage was minimal. There won’t be any permanent damage to your neck besides occasional aches.”

Carter’s hands immediately itched to take the bandages off. His mom nodded to him and, with another nod from the doctor, he reached up and slowly unraveled the bandages. They came off slowly, mostly because he _took_ them off slowly, but they also felt sticky against the skin.

His mom gasped and covered her mouth. He looked for a mirror.

Jagged scars, like lightning bolts, ran across his neck in the shape of fingers. He touched them and flinched at the dull ache it created. His mother gently pulled his hand away. He frowned.

It was just more scars, after all. 


End file.
